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China has vowed to step up testing of animal fodder as it deals with a widening tainted baby milk formula scandal that has killed at least three infants and sickened more than 6,200 babies.
In a notice to its departments across the mainland, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued urgent instructions late on Wednesday over how to improve tests for melamine in feed and feed additives, according to Xinhua.
The nation's top product quality watchdog ordered departments to improve supervision over feed import and export companies, ratchet up sampling rates for melamine tests, and investigate the possible use of fake quarantine certificates to evade inspections.
The circular also required branches to make plans for spot tests for feed exporters in 'key regions'.
Melamine, a chemical normally used in plastics, is rich in nitrogen - an element often used to measure protein - and can be used to disguise diluted milk.
The banned chemical was found illegally mixed into many baby milk formula brands by some dairy manufacturers, including the Hebei-based Sanlu Group, to fool inspectors.
Melamine is widely used in China to give livestock feed the appearance of higher protein content, according to previous reports by foreign media. Last year, the chemical hit the headlines when melamine-laced food additives produced in China and later used in pet food were blamed by US officials for the deaths of dogs and cats there.
In the aftermath of the pet food scandal, regulators ordered that from May all livestock feed be tested for melamine in accordance with Ministry of Agriculture standards.
However, mainland authorities have been under fire since admitting that dairy products were not subject to melamine testing before the Sanlu powdered milk contamination scandal began to unfold, even though such checks had been ordered on livestock feed since May.



Testing to expand to animal feed